Protecting the Boundary by Cadence Keys book cover

LA Wolves Defense Book 4

Protecting the Boundary

by Cadence Keys

A single-dad / nanny professional football romance

Can a guarded heart make room for a second great love?

An interconnected standalone romance

Where to read

Tropes

  • Single dad
  • Nanny romance
  • Widower romance
  • Forced proximity
  • Employer/employee
  • Found family

About the book

I was hired to take care of his daughter, not fall in love with her football star father.

Taking a nanny job wasn’t part of my post-college plan—but neither was falling for my gruff, drop-dead gorgeous NFL-star boss and his sweet daughter.

Romel Watson is the definition of emotionally unavailable. His heart has been locked away since his wife passed three years ago, and he’s made it painfully clear there’s no room for anyone else.

But the more time I spend with them, the more I see the cracks in his armor. I love his daughter like she’s my own, and Romel? The way his eyes linger on me when he thinks no one’s looking ignites a spark I can’t ignore.

He keeps me at arm’s length, clinging to a past he can’t let go of. I’m willing to share his heart with her memory—she’ll always be part of their lives. But I refuse to settle for being an afterthought.

Now, I have to make the hardest decision of my life: keep fighting for the family I’ve come to love or walk away before I lose myself completely.

Protecting the Boundary is a steamy single dad/nanny sports romance. This is book 4 in the LA Wolves Defense series, but can be read as a standalone.

Contemporary romance · Professional football / sports romance

Why you may love it

Romel Watson + Meredith Gable

Set in Los Angeles

Widowed LA Wolves cornerback Romel Watson is nearing retirement and raising his daughter, Kaylee. He believes loving again would betray his late wife, Sydney—until Meredith Gable, Kaylee’s live-in nanny, brings joy back into both their lives.

Romel has spent years protecting his heart and focusing on Kaylee. Falling for Meredith asks him to consider whether loving again can honor the life he lost instead of erasing his first love.

  • A second-great-love romance about grief, guilt, and healing after widowhood.
  • A live-in nanny who becomes deeply important to both father and daughter.
  • A family-centered story with a heroine who is a UCLA kinesiology graduate considering physical-therapy graduate school.